Aircraft valve assemblies commonly include flowbodies that are formed (e.g., cast and subsequently machined) to include at least one radial flange that can be mounted to a mating flange provided on a neighboring duct member or other neighboring flowbody. An annular clamp (commonly referred to as a “V-band clamp”) having multiple hinged segments and a V-shaped inner geometry, as taken in cross-section, is often utilized to secure the flowbody's radial flange to the neighboring flowbody flange and thereby form a flange-to-flange interface. The number of segments included within the V-band clamp typically varies in conjunction with the duty rating of the V-band clamp. In general, a light duty V-band clamp typically includes two arcuate segments, while a heavy duty V-band clamp typically includes three or more arcuate segments.
In many instances, an aircraft valve assembly may conduct highly pressurized, highly heated air during operation of the aircraft. For example, the flowbodies of high pressure valve assemblies and manifold pressure valve assemblies often conduct heated, pressurized air bled from the compressor section of a gas turbine engine. To minimize leakage across the flange-to-flange interface, it is desirable to ensure that the radial flanges of such aircraft valve assemblies are secured to neighboring flanges utilizing heavy duty (e.g., three segment) V-band clamps. However, as conventionally designed and implemented, aircraft valve assemblies typically do not include any structural features that prevent or interfere with the installation of a lighter duty (e.g., two segment) V-band clamp around the valve assembly flange. A lighter duty clamp may consequently be mistakenly installed around the valve assembly flange, which may result in excessive leakage across the flange-to-flange interface and a corresponding decrease in engine efficiency during flight of the aircraft.
There thus exists an ongoing need to provide embodiments of an aircraft valve assembly (or other flowbody assembly) including one or more structural features that physically prevent the installation of one or more undesired types of clamps around the valve assembly flange, while permitting the installation of a selected type of clamp around the valve assembly flange. It would be desirable if embodiments of such an aircraft valve assembly were relatively straightforward to implement and amenable to fabrication utilizing conventional manufacturing processes. It would also be desirable to provide embodiments of a method for manufacturing such an aircraft valve assembly. Other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent Detailed Description and the appended Claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawings and this Background.